Algeria Reaffirms Support for Western Sahara Independence, Escalating Tensions with Morocco

Algeria "will not abandon the Western Sahara issue, an issue that was in fact settled in 1989 at a meeting that brought together the Moroccan sovereign Hassan II, the Saudi sovereign Fahd Ben Abdelaziz, and the former president Chadli Ben Jdid," said the Algerian president during a televised and radio-broadcast intervention on March 1.

"They agreed, at the request of the king Hassan II, that the Western Sahara issue falls under the prerogatives of the UN and for a resumption of relations between the two countries," Tebboune recalled, thus referring to the meeting that led to the creation of the Arab Maghreb Union. "In 1989... the borders were opened, but Halima (Morocco, editor’s note) has returned to its old habits," he added.